Venting
by Klutzygirl33
Summary: Set post "Dressed To Kill". Tony needs someone to talk to and calls Ziva to vent.


**I don't own NCIS and never will. No copyright infringement intended.**

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Although he had given his father his blessing, Tony was still having a little trouble with the fact that Senior was marrying his mom's best friend. He needed to someone – a specific person to be exact – to talk to, and hoped that Ziva was free. He was glad they had just recently started keeping in touch again. Tony sighed and hit speed dial on his phone. He waited impatiently for her pick up and grinned when he heard his voice. "Hi. What's going on?" Ziva was confused about why he actually called her – they usually kept in touch via video chat on their laptops (it was much easier).

"Hi you. How are you doing?" Tony wanted to find that out before he dumped all his issues on her. He felt bad about this, but she was the most important person in his life right now.

Thrilled to hear from him, but worried because of Tony's tone of voice, Ziva took a deep breath and waited a few seconds before she answered. "Good. You?"

Tony sat down on the couch and put his feet up on the table. "Okay. My father's back in town."

She lifted an eyebrow. "Oh? And how did that go?" The two men didn't have the best relationship, and Tony usually ended up burned, something she didn't like (even though she did like Senior).

"Well, he's getting married again – to my mom's best friend. It was not what I was expecting, but at least he wasn't engaged to her pregnant daughter. Bishop and McGee saw them go into his room, automatically assumed they were together, and told me. I jumped to conclusions and got pissed, but Gibbs told me to talk to him. And that's when I found out the truth." Now out of breath, Tony stopped talking.

Ziva opened and closed her mouth a few times. "It's good news you're not getting a half-sibling, but how do you feel about Senior marrying your mother's best friend?" She could tell over the phone that he wasn't handling this as well as he wanted everyone to believe he was.

"I asked if they had an affair while Mom was still alive, but he denied it and I believe him. It's weird, you know? I feel guilty and like I'm betraying her, which is stupid."

She shook her head. "It's not stupid to feel this way, Tony. It's perfectly natural. So what happened?"

"I met up with him later and gave him my blessing. The four of us ended up eating together, and it was nice. Dad and Linda both seem pretty happy so I shouldn't complain." He stared up at the ceiling, cursing his irrational emotions.

"You needed to vent, and that's what I'm here for. I vent to you all the time, Tony, and you've never once complained about it – at least to me, anyway. It's perfectly fine to feel the way you are. I would be shocked if you felt otherwise. Do you know when the wedding is?"

Tony nodded before he realized they were on the phone and she couldn't see him. "Yeah, it's this summer. I'm going to be my dad's best man. Linda's daughter will have had her baby by then so she's stepping in as matron-of-honor. It's just a small thing at the moment, but you know Senior. It's probably going to turn into this huge spectacle. Can you believe he called her his soul mate? What about Mom? Why wasn't she his soul mate?"

Ziva blinked at the amount of information she had just gotten. "I think maybe people can have more than one soul mate. And send me pictures when this wedding does happen – I want to see it."

"I will," he promised. Tony stared up at the ceiling. "You know you're my soul mate, right?"

Floored, Ziva didn't answer at first. They had confessed their feelings for each other and made love before Tony left her at the airport, but she certainly hadn't expected this. It had thrown her off balance. "What?" she finally asked.

Tony wanted to laugh but refused to. "You're the one for me. Always have been, always will be. No other woman's going to live up to you."

Tears filled her eyes and Ziva choked back a sob. "Damn you for making me cry, Tony."

"Sorry." He wasn't really, though. He meant every single word.

"Well you are mine too, just so you know." She had known that for a while, even if she hadn't wanted to admit it. She had never felt this way about anybody before.

Tony felt the exact same way – she was his one. "I've been thinking about it for a while, and this is cheesy as fuck, but you're my Shannon. It's the truth, Ziva."

She nearly started bawling right there and then. "Oh. That is one of the sweetest things you've ever said to me. And I hope our relationship never ends the same way Gibbs and Shannon's did." Ziva still wondered how her former boss managed to live through that trauma every day.

"Same here. Love you."

She gently swiped the tears away. "I love you, too, you young sap."

"Old sap," he corrected. Tony wasn't afraid of their relationship ending the same way – they had already been a lot and came out the other side much stronger than they had before. They were going to be great, and he informed Ziva of this fact.

"I still need to find myself, but I will come home eventually," Ziva promised as she hunted for something to eat in the cabinets.

"I know you will. I miss you."

"And I miss you." Ziva enjoyed these little talks, and she hated that this one was coming to an end. She wanted to talk to him for as long as possible, but that wasn't going to happen. It sucked.

Tony yawned. "I'll talk to you – via video chat – tomorrow. You good with that? I want to see your face."

"Yes, that's fine. And I would also like to see your face. It's been a while since we laid eyes on each other."

He laughed. "It's been three days, Ziva."

She beamed. "Well it seems like it was longer than that. Goodbye, Tony."

"Goodbye, Ziva." He reluctantly hung up the phone. Tony couldn't wait until she was back home and he knew Ziva was safe. He wouldn't relax until then.

Ziva wanted to come home soon, but she wasn't ready yet. And she already planned on surprising Tony whenever that happened.

Maybe the next wedding would be theirs (both could hope so at least).


End file.
